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Proper 16

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

1 I love you, Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,my shield[b] and the horn[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,and I have been saved from my enemies.4 The cords of death entangled me;the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called to the Lord;I cried to my God for help.From his temple he heard my voice;my cry came before him, into his ears.7 The earth trembled and quaked,and the foundations of the mountains shook;they trembled because he was angry.8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;consuming fire came from his mouth,burning coals blazed out of it.9 He parted the heavens and came down;dark clouds were under his feet.10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;he soared on the wings of the wind.11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,with hailstones and bolts of lightning.13 The Lord thundered from heaven;the voice of the Most High resounded.[d]14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,with great bolts of lightning he routed them.15 The valleys of the sea were exposedand the foundations of the earth laid bareat your rebuke,Lord,at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;he drew me out of deep waters.17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,from my foes, who were too strong for me.18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,but the Lord was my support.19 He brought me out into a spacious place;he rescued me because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;I am not guilty of turning from my God.22 All his laws are before me;I have not turned away from his decrees.23 I have been blameless before himand have kept myself from sin.24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,to the blameless you show yourself blameless,26 to the pure you show yourself pure,but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.27 You save the humblebut bring low those whose eyes are haughty.28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;my God turns my darkness into light.29 With your help I can advance against a troop[e];with my God I can scale a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect:The Lord’s word is flawless;he shields all who take refuge in him.31 For who is God besides the Lord?And who is the Rock except our God?32 It is God who arms me with strengthand keeps my way secure.33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;he causes me to stand on the heights.34 He trains my hands for battle;my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35 You make your saving help my shield,and your right hand sustains me;your help has made me great.36 You provide a broad path for my feet,so that my ankles do not give way.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;I did not turn back till they were destroyed.38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;they fell beneath my feet.39 You armed me with strength for battle;you humbled my adversaries before me.40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,and I destroyed my foes.41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but he did not answer.42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust;I trampled them[f] like mud in the streets.43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;you have made me the head of nations.People I did not know now serve me,44 foreigners cower before me;as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.45 They all lose heart;they come trembling from their strongholds.

46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!Exalted be God my Savior!47 He is the God who avenges me,who subdues nations under me,48 who saves me from my enemies.You exalted me above my foes;from a violent man you rescued me.49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;I will sing the praises of your name.

50 He gives his king great victories;he shows unfailing love to his anointed,to David and to his descendants forever.

A Wise Ruling

16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me.18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king.25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

Cross references:

The Shipwreck

27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic[a] Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet[b] deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet[c] deep.29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow.31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board.38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping.43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

Footnotes:

Acts 27:27In ancient times the name referred to an area extending well south of Italy.

The Last Supper

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

24 “This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

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